Palatine Is Deadlocked On Housing For Elderly

A controversial senior citizens housing project got the support of half the Palatine Village Board last week, but just as many trustees said they still had questions.

The board, sitting as the committee of the whole, deliberated for five hours Wednesday evening about the $4.7 million, 76-unit dwelling before taking a vote.

Then three trustees voted in favor of rezoning 2 acres near Baldwin Road and Willow Wood Drive for the three-story building. But three other trustees passed because of lingering concerns.

Final action on the rezoning is tentatively set for the June 8 Village Board meeting.

``I still would like to see . . . that it be 42 units, and be something substantially smaller,`` said Trustee Michael Yeats, the point man for the opposition. ``But if it goes through, there is nothing we can do but live with it.``

James Wilson, before voting in favor of the federally financed building, explained, ``If I vote against this, in effect, I am voting against old people, I`m voting against charity, I`m voting against compassion. And I`m not going to do that.``

Village President Rita Mullins stood and delivered an intensely emotional plea for the project, asking opponents to redirect their energies to helping the elderly instead of fighting the development.

``Believe me, we looked at every site in the village possible. This was the only one that met the criteria,`` she said. ``If this project goes down, there`s not going to be any more $4.7 million available anywhere. That`s it.`` According to the Suburban Area Agency on Aging, Palatine Township`s senior population will continue to rise through the year 2010. In 1990, the township had 10,856 people older than 60, and that population is expected to hit 17,295 in the year 2000, agency figures show.

The $4.7 million loan was one of three given out to Illinois communities in 1990 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. If the building is approved, the non-profit developer, Evangelical Hospitals Corp., hopes to start construction in October, said Alan Saunders, consultant to the company.

Plans call for the building to include 76 one-bedroom and efficiency apartments for low- to middle-income seniors and disabled people. Rents would be $650 a month, with tenants contributing one-third of their income and any remainder subsidized.

So far, Saunders said, 300 people have inquired about living there. Preference would be given to residents of the village and Palatine Township who are older than 62 and have annual incomes of no more than $16,400 for one person or $18,750 for two.

If the village approves the project in June, it would be the first senior housing for that income class in Palatine.